Wednesday, Claire, my partner in crime at work, and I decided to head to Ikea after work in search of some goodies to updated our casa’s.

John and I are having some people over on Friday night (my motivation) and we needed some tables for our back porch so that we can entertain outdoors and actually have a place to set a drink or plate down!

When we bought the house the patio looked like this…

When we moved in none of the furniture was there (unfortunately – we sure would have loved a freebie) but they did leave the rug. We gladly would have kept the rug too but upon closer examination we realized how disgusting it was. Years of pollen, dust, moisture – I’ll stop there – had definitely taken its toll on the rug. When we removed the rug it practically disintegrated in our hands, ew.

A random evening trip to Home Depot on one of the evenings our house was being painted led us to our new rug. We were just browsing around and stumbled across a remnant of indoor/outdoor carpet that was the perfect neutral color, subtle pattern and just the size we were looking for. To top it all off, because it was a remnant, it was super affordable!

You may not be able to tell, but trust me, it’s much cleaner!

So, then the search began for affordable patio furniture. “Affordable” and “Patio Furniture” are two words that really don’t go in the same sentence. Trust me. I am the queen of finding things online/in stores, and I found NOTHING that was reasonably priced and didn’t feel like it would crash to the ground if I sat on it. After a significant amount of time with no furniture our first (last-minute) overnight house guest made his appearance, it was this occasion that demanded we find a quick solution. While I ran to the grocery store, John went to Lowe’s to grab four chairs that we had seen that weren’t quite as inexpensive as we’d have liked, but were definitely the best we’d seen for their price. At $20 each, we are STILL thrilled with them.

So now, combined with our LACK purchases from Ikea (totalling $40), we have this…

Yay for seating and a place to rest a book/drink/plate!

As you may remember today is the day that we’re getting our formal room furniture delivered. We’re also having some people over tonight, hopefully I’ll have a few more pictures for you later this weekend!

Have you done anything super creative in the world of outdoor living spaces recently? Please share! I love being outside, and the idea of a wonderfully cozy and party perfect outdoor room, but it just feels like everything ‘outdoor space’ related is SO expensive at the stores!

Hi there!

My name is Stephanie. I'm a twenty-something newlywed and the proud owner of a 'new' house. This blog is about our life in Charlotte. Cooking, decorating, slowly renovating, DIY-ing and a bunch of other things I'm enjoying and feel like sharing.
If you have something you want to see, or questions, or just want to chat, shoot me an e-mail at alifemoresouthern[at]gmail[dot]com!
Enjoy!